Wow, that's a lot! Anyway, sit back and relax as today I bring you some scrummy Chocolate and Oat Cookies with Guittard Chocolate Chips! (For reference, I used the recipe from Jane's Patesserie.)

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This recipe makes a whole load of delicious oaty, chewy and chocolatey cookies which go perfectly with either a glass of milk or a cup of tea, whichever's your preference! I found them really easy to make, although by the time I came to mix in the chocolate chips, it was quite difficult but that's just the nature of cookie dough I guess! haha! I found them easy to make although only having one flat baking tray and no proper greaseproof paper did make things a bit difficult, but hey, isn't that all part of the fun!?

The gorgeous apron featured is from Squiffy Print which is a new, exciting printing and design business owned by the lovely Jessica who among other things, runs this business whilst raising her baby! A real girl boss!

The apron itself is approximately 86cm long by 72cms wide, with the apron ties being 30cms long and the fabric neck loop is fully adjustable making it easy to change for whoever uses it. I love the design with the cake beaters splattering batter everywhere! Sometimes this happens when baking and the addition of the Swarovski Crystals just add to the overall effect! I really love it!

Anyway, back to the chocolate....! Like I said before, I used a recipe from Jane's Patisserie because her website is just full of incredibly delicious recipes and you're bound to fall into a sugar coma from simply reading it! I have baked her Chocolate Orange No-Bake Cheesecake previously and it was incredible and so easy to make! So it was a no-brainer that I would go back to her to find a suitable cookie recipe!

I cheekily thought these would be a 'healthier' version because of the oats! But that's obviously completely untrue with the amount of butter, sugar and chocolate chips in them..!

If you wish to make them yourself, then follow my (slightly altered) recipe below:

This is a very simple method really, I'd definitely advise having a proper cookie/ice cream scoop to hand because using a tablespoon measure equals messy hands and the cookies being different sizes. Another tip would be, when it comes to squishing down them down once on the tray then have a fork and a bag of flour handy; this helps to prevent the fork sticking to the cookies!

Preheat oven to 190C/180C Fan/375F and grease between 2/4 flat baking trays. I always butter the tray before putting on greaseproof as well as after, simply because I don't want anything sticking! But it's upto you if you do this extra step!

First step is to mix together both the caster and brown sugars with the butter until soft and smooth, if you have an electric whisk or even a Kitchen Aid (or variant!) then it makes this so much easier! I am used to doing everything by hand so that's how I did this but it does take a bit longer. Add in the vanilla and egg a little at a time until all thoroughly combined.

Add in the rolled oats, flour, bicarb and baking powder mixing everything together. At this stage the mix does start to resemble more of a cookie 'dough' than a cake mix which can make it hard if like me you're mixing by hand! I thought I had everything mixed but there's always that bit at the bottom which refuses to be mixed in! haha! Using a mixer for this (with paddle attachment) would definitely make this easier!

Next, add in the chocolate chips and mix again ensuring that everything is combined thoroughly. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop portions of the cookie dough and rub them between your hands into ball shapes, placing on the tray and squishing them down to 1cm thick. To prevent them touching when cooking, only put 6 on a tray.

Cook them for between 10-12 minutes - because I only had the one tray I used the first batch as a kind of test, cooking them for 11 minutes. They came out perfectly, the right mix of crispy edge with squishy/melted chocolate centre. As they harden up when cooling anyway, you definitely don't want to over cook them - which I'm very surprised i didn't do! haha!

These cookies are the perfect - chewy, chocolatey, crispy oaty cookie-ness!! I am so pleased with how they have turned out and will definitely be making them again! At first I thought the amount of chocolate chips was too much, taking away from the chewy oats slightly but I have been assured that this isn't the case and I don't need to lower the amounts for the next batch! Brilliant!

The chocolate chips I used here are so smooth that they just melt when eating the cookies. I have used cheaper chocolate chips in the past and you can definitely taste the difference, mainly because they contain a lower percentage of cocoa and generally have a higher fat content which takes away from their overall taste. Using these Guittard semi-sweet chips which have over 50% cacao solids ensures that the cookies retain their gooey chocolate-ness and of course, you get the satisfaction of knowing you're getting a more genuine chocolate-y taste!

Please let me know if you've made these before or indeed any of Jane's recipes! I'd love to see your creations!